Scientists from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and
partners identified various factors and genes that are associated with the
salt stress tolerance of wild tomatoes.



Soil salinity is a major stressor that affects agricultural productivity
around the world. It is important to understand how crops respond to salt
stress to develop resilient varieties.



Researchers exposed wild tomatoes (Solanum pimpinellifolium) to different
levels of salt stress and used high-throughput phenotyping in greenhouse and
field conditions to analyze the responses of the plants. Their findings
showed that traits, such as ion accumulation, shoot mass, and transpiration
rate are associated with plant performance under salt stress. The team also
identified genes that were not previously related to salt stress tolerance.
"These specific genotypes can be used as allele donors for further improving
crop performance and developing more sustainable agriculture," said Magda
Julkowska, one of the main authors of the study.



[onlinelibrary.wiley.com]